While Key has started to emerge on both ends of the floor in his first season as a transfer guard for No. 4 Virginia, which travels to play at 9 Wednesday night at Boston College (9-4, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), just nine months ago he needed encouragement that Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett even remembered he existed. It turned out Guy, a guard at U.Va., was already paving the way to make sure Key ended up in Charlottesville after playing his first two college seasons for Alabama.

“The day before I announced that I was going to transfer, I texted Kyle and said, ‘Hey, do you think U.Va. would still be interested in me?’ ” said Key, adding he’s been friends with Guy for five or six years. “He said he was working on it right away.”

Whatever role Guy played in greasing the transfer wheels, Key didn’t have to wait long to have his inquiry addressed. Bennett was the first coach to call Key after he made it clear in April he intended to transfer from Alabama.

In many ways, Key has always seemed like a natural fit for U.Va. (13-0, 1-0), which benefited last Saturday from his 20-point outburst off the bench on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor in the Cavaliers’ 65-52 win against then-No. 9 Florida State. It was Key’s scoring high in his first season wearing a U.Va. uniform.

Key may play a larger role at BC, which lost 77-66 Saturday at then-No. 10 Virginia Tech in a game that saw the Hokies shoot 55.6 percent from the floor in the second half.

Virginia Tech (13-1, 2-0) is up to No. 9 this week and plays Wednesday night at Georgia Tech (9-5, 1-0), which is led by point guard Jose Alvarado (team highs with 13.1 points and 3.3 assists per game) and will be looking to play better against the Hokies than it did in last season’s 76-56 loss in Atlanta.

At 6-foot-8 and 225 pounds, Key is the kind of versatile presence Bennett and his staff prefer to have on the roster. Key values defense and his ability to guard players of different sizes and positions — a characteristic that instantly put him on the good side of U.Va.’s coaching staff.

“His ability to play everywhere, on the perimeter, on the interior offensively, defend multiple spots; his versatility is big-time,” U.Va. associate head coach Jason Williford said. “He’s a lot like (Cavaliers guard) De’Andre (Hunter) when it comes to that, and he’s got a really good basketball feel, really good IQ, knows how to play and he’s alert.

“We’ll miss (reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year) Isaiah Wilkins, but there’s an alertness (Key) has that is similar to Isaiah’s. I’m not going to put (Key) in that category defensively yet, but he’s alert in regards to knowing what’s happening defensively.”

If the on-court factors weren’t enough to draw the attention of Bennett and his staff, there’s also the fact Key is related to U.Va. basketball royalty.

“Since I was knee-high, he’s always been there,” said Key of the 7-foot-4 Sampson, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer who was a three-time national Player of the Year (1981-83) for U.Va. “I’ve always looked up to him — he’s so tall, you have to.”

Key, a Charlotte, N.C., product who has a lot of family in Harrisonburg and Roanoke, said he regularly keeps in touch with Sampson, a Harrisonburg native.

After deciding in less than three weeks he wanted to transfer to U.Va., it appeared Key would have to sit out a season per NCAA transfer rules, but he had other ideas. He applied to the NCAA for a hardship waiver based on a family medical situation, and was granted the waiver in October.

“Personally, I felt like I was going to play all year,” Key said. “I had no doubt in my mind that I was going to play.”

Key flirted with U.Va. coming out of Oak Hill Academy, the elite basketball-centric prep school in Mouth of Wilson. U.Va. offered a scholarship to Key, who had the school among his top four college choices.

The week Key planned to visit U.Va., Hunter committed to the Cavaliers, taking the last available scholarship in U.Va.’s class of 2016 that also included Guy, guard Ty Jerome and forward Jay Huff. Key went on to Alabama, where he started 47 games in two seasons and led the team in scoring (12 ppg) as a freshman.

“I can remember we recruited him hard out of high school, and he was a good passer, and I thought there was some potential to him defensively with that versatility,” Bennett said. “It’s with all our guys: Soundness first, but that creative ability to see things and have some instincts he’s shown in practice. … He’s got some of those ball skills that make easy plays for people.”

Key started off slowly in the scoring category in his first 12 games for U.Va., averaging 6.3 points per game and leading the team with 5.4 rebounds per game before the FSU game.

Still, teammates saw the potential in Key, who started his first five games but has come off the bench in his last eight contests. While Jerome was among the most vocal of Key’s teammates reassuring him his time would come soon on the offensive end, Key’s defensive prowess was always evident.

“He gives me a hard time in practice,” forward Mamadi Diakite said. “He’s very versatile. You could see that (against FSU). He made some 3s, he was going to the offensive boards, he was able to lock (FSU’s Terance Mann and Phil Cofer) down.”

“I think it has taken a while to adjust, but with the type of guys we have — Ty, Kyle, De’Andre and Jack (Salt) — we have a lot of leaders, not just one or two,” Key said. “It’s easy to fit in and find your spot.”